Speaking of catamarans, this is a new Maine Cat launch coming up this year that I’m looking forward to. I love cats like this–lean and mean and simple, with enough accommodations that you can really go somewhere in them, but not so much that the boat gets fat and slow. This is an open bridgedeck design, similar to the Scape 39 Sport Cruiser I sailed across the South Atlantic a few years ago, but not quite as severe, with some serious hardtop shelter on deck. Basically it looks to be an open-air saloon. Or a huge pilothouse. Take your pick.

The in-hull accommodations, as you can see, are also clean and simple.

I love that they have the cojones to put just one head on the boat. I’ve never appreciated multiple heads on boats under 50 feet long. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Space on a boat is limited, always, and how much time do you really spend in the head?

This will be a very versatile boat, as all the foils (daggerboards and rudders) are retractable, as are the twin 20hp outboards that provide auxiliary power. With everything up, draft is just 19 inches (the outboards are fully enclosed, with fairings that seal the leg apertures when the engines are raised), so you can easily hit the beach if you want.

Construction looks to be impeccable: infused vinylester resin and thermo-formed Core-Cell foam throughout. The standard rig features a Selden aluminum mast, a self-tacking jib, and a protrusion for a screecher. A rotating mast, flat-top main, overlapping jib, and a screecher to fly from the protrusion, are all optional.

The prospective standard equipment list has most everything I’d want on the boat (electronics, including an autopilot, fridge and freezer, 150-watt solar array, and an 510AH house battery bank) and the introductory price, $321K, is extremely reasonable .

Hopefully I’ll be able to sail one in Maine this summer. I’ll also be looking for it in Annapolis in the fall. And here’s another enticing test-sailing option if you’re seriously interested: Maine Cat will have one available next winter for bareboat chartering in the Bahamas.

Man… if I had a boat like this in the Bahamas, I might never come back.

WARNING: I’m going missing for a while, without my computer, so this will be the last post for a week or more. Very nice gig this. I look forward to telling you about it when I get back.

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Charles Doane

Charlie is Cruising editor for SAIL and has been associated with the magazine since the mid-1990s. He has more than 45,000 bluewater miles under his keel, including six transatlantics and three singlehanded passages, and has owned and maintained three different cruising boats over the years. Author of the book The Modern Cruising Sailboat (International Marine-McGraw-Hill), Charlie has been writing his blog WaveTrain since October 2009.